Certainly, Fox Biz Network must be hoping to snipe a few CNBC viewers. But at least based on the first week, it's not wholly clear that they'll attract the same people. CNBC is known for its sometimes, well, overly passionate commentary about the stock market. Fox Biz seems like it's going beyond the minutiae of the market to target a broader audience.

Public radio is an interesting beast because its finances are unlike not only for-profit businesses, but also other 501(c)(3)s. Through some magical combination of guilt and altruism, public radio stations manage to get lots of people to willingly donate money to something they could get for free. Not only that, but listeners pay based on how much they value the station. Businesses would kill to be able to charge customers like that.

So I propose a discussion topic in honor of Guilt Week: why are so many public radio listeners willing to donate often considerable amounts without coercion? Is it out of the goodness of their hearts? Because they fear their fabulous local station will disappear if they don't? Other reasons? What say those of you who donate to public radio? Why do you give?

What do you think? Are independent book and record stores disappearing? Should we even care, in the age of the long tail thrift and accessibility of Amazon and Barnes & Noble? Or will such stores simply adapt like their allegedly-doomed newspaper brethren?

So your old friend moved to Nevada but you don’t know where. Try using the library’s research product Reference USA to find them. Reference USA is found on the library’s website under the Research tab.

Another very important & useful feature of this software is looking up businesses by region/etc and limiting the search to specific types of companies. It’s a great resource for sales & marketing leads. My search for info on ICE CREAM & FROZEN DESSERTS (MFRS) in Michigan yielded 40 businesses.

Use Reference USA at any Ann Arbor District Library location or from your home / business computer. Off site usage requires your Ann Arbor District Library card #.

"In Rainbows," the latest album by consummate alt rockers Radiohead, is garnering attention. Unlike with the now legendary OK Computer, however, it's not for it's musical brilliance. In fact, the album isn't even out yet. Instead, Radiohead's getting press because they're letting you name your own price to buy it.

Aside from the obvious pricing mechanism, Radiohead is innovating in several other ways. First, the album is only available for digital download on the band's website. Second, the album will be DRM-free. Third, the band is bypassing the traditional gatekeepers of music, the recording industry.

Like Prince's July 2007 scheme with his latest album Planet Earth, Radiohead's actions are likely to anger an industry exec or two. But should they be afraid? Might artists be able to bypass them altogether and get their music out to the masses? Will such promotions only work for musical demigods like Prince and Radiohead? What do you think?

Have you ever found a great recipe in a cookbook and photocopied it? If you have, then you've been exercising your "fair use" rights to copyright. In other words, even though an artist or publisher owns the rights to that book, movie, or song, you can still do a few things with that book even if you don't own it. Like check it out from a library!

Copyright geeks have been abuzz this month because a new report suggests that those few exceptions to copyright are worth big bucks: $507 billion in 2006, nearly 20% of U.S. GDP, to be exact. Or at least so says the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a business group representing such heavy hitters as Microsoft, Apple, and Google.

Okay, so maybe you copying that recipe didn't really spur the creation of new jobs. But the fact that Google, Yahoo, Ask, and their cohorts can crawl through websites (another fair use exception), even though those sites are copyrighted, certainly did. Which begs the question: should we have more exceptions to copyright? After all, the Copyright Clause of the Constitution is meant to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts," i.e. spark new ideas and innovations. Perhaps we should even consider shortening the copyright term? What do YOU think?

What does this mean for you? Well, if you're Canadian, it means that U.S. stuff is a lot cheaper. If you're from the United States and want some Canadian swag, though, you might not be so happy. It might even mean that Big Macs in Canada won't seem as cheap anymore.

But is such philanthropy really as good as it seems? A pair of articles from our friends at the New York Times and The Economist suggests otherwise. Those big donations, according to the Times article, net donors some big tax breaks, meaning that money given to little Timmy's private school is money the government can't use for potentially worthier purposes.

And what about all those companies that do good works? Well, as The Economist notes, Robert Reich thinks that focusing on corporate social responsibility misses the point. Businesses, even socially responsible ones, ultimately focus on their interests. We shouldn't get so preoccupied with them that we take the heat off the people who are supposed to be watching the economy: the federal government.

He's a legend. A veritable deity in the business pantheon. A man whose words were scripture for bankers and the financial warriors of Wall Street. And now, the venerable former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is blogging.

Well, sort of, anyway. Greenspan's only actually made one entry, and it seems to be primarily to promote his new book. But it not unprecedented for economists to turn books into blogs. Or in some cases, even blogs into books.

Like nearly all such book lists, Amazon's Business bestseller list is filled with the vagaries of the moment. But there are a few titles that have proven to be perennial favorites, and they're not even strictly about business: the somewhat cheesily-named yet useful Getting to Yes and nearly anything written by preeminent Arizona State University social psychologist Robert Cialdini.

I say not strictly business because the books are actually about negotiation. Sure, businesspeople need good negotiation skills to seal a deal. But other folks need them, too. For instance, in Cialdini's latest book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, he details how if a saleswoman can get to like her, she's a lot more likely to make a sale, and get you to pay more. And these principles don't only matter for sales. Ever had your significant other point out your inconsistencies in an argument? More of Cialdini's weapons of influence at work.

So whether you're in business or not, don't be fooled by that "business" moniker. These negotiation and influence books will help you whether you're trying to persuade a client or your kids.

Look for old friends, find a new doctor, or learn about the companies you buy from and invest in. ReferenceUSA is the place for information about businesses, health care providers, and residences in the United States. Besides phone numbers and addresses for both businesses and people, ReferenceUSA also gives you up to date, detailed information on U.S. Companies.

Get your money out of that mattress and get it working for you with the help of Value Line! Value Line has extensive financial and statistical data from independent analysts as well as the Value Line Investment Survey, featuring advice on approximately 1,700 stocks in 97 industries. You can also look through recent news and analysis, educational tools, and information on building an investment portfolio.